Cartagena (Colombia), 9/17/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - At the end of a nine-hour visit to Colombia, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that "Brazil was willing to participate in Colombian peace negotiations if asked to do so by the United Nations or president Alvaro Uribe."

Lula denied that a meeting of Farc guerrillas and the UN was to be held in Brazil in October, as reported in some newspapers in Colombia. He said: "The UN will have to spend some more time on this matter," because at the moment nothing can be confirmed. (AB)